Connection: Remix
by Blu Evermind
Summary: A complete rewrite of Connection Part One, a story I wrote a few years ago. SONADOW. Months after Shadow's death and the ARK incident, Sonic discovers every thing's just beginning.
1. Chapter 1

Connection: Remix

**Author:** Blu Evermind

**Summary:** Months after the Ark incident, Shadow mysteriously returns to Station Square. Now it's up to Sonic and friends to discover how…and why. SONADOW; Action to come in later chapters.

**Notes:** This is a re-write to a story I wrote 3 years ago…there are many things I'm trying to do with the rewrite: 1) I want to add more depth to Sonic and Shadow's relationship. I felt in the first one, things just went from one extreme to the other, too quickly. I think this is because back then, I didn't have much relationship experience. 2) Further develop the plot. I loved the plot of the first one (an idea I thought over for weeks before putting it on paper) I would just like to spread out things more. 3) MAKE IT LONGER. I'm a short-chapter kind of girl but I can make more short chapters, therefore making the story itself longer. Maybe work on that Tails/Amy/Fiona triangle a little more…and much more Sonic/Shadow sap moments because I love them so.

**Another Note:** I haven't used in a few years. I don't even know how long this is going to be here, for I had another Sonic/Shadow story up before that was taken down for very silly reasons. So, I'm going to post this here, but I also have a fiction journal now (greatestjournal(dot)com(slash)nothingbutgreys), that's where you can also find my other works. I have chapters 1-4 completed as of now and I'm writing chp 5, I just wanted to post this because I've been getting a few reviews on Connection Pt 1 and 2, so I wanted to keep those readers updated...I am going to rewrite Pts 1 and 2, and complete 2.

And with that settled, let's begin!

CHAPTER ONE

Sonic the Hedgehog, world's savior, found himself at the beach tonight, emerald eyes looking forlornly at the waves breaking the sand. It was a few months after the ARK incident. Weather forecasters had announced that debris from the explosion would be coming back to earth soon. Sonic was afraid, though.

As he looked up into the starry sky, soon to be filled with burning scraps of garbage—he was quite frightened, because Shadow's body might come down with it. And that would stop this hopeful feeling he'd had lately. That somewhere out there, Shadow was still alive.

Sonic kicked a seashell and dropped to the ground. "I don't know what these feelings are," he murmured to himself, "but I wish they'd leave me alone."

Waking in the night to hear dark voices desperately calling his name was getting on his nerves. Seeing red eyes, wide in fear in the shadows of his bedroom at night was quite troublesome for the blue hedgehog.

He punched the sand beneath him, "IF YOU'RE DEAD—THEN STAY DEAD!" He cried. "But if you're alive...then come back already." His chin fell to his chest, hiding his facial expression. If the world saw him like this, so distraught over Shadow's—his rival's—death, they'd think him weak, think he couldn't still take up his responsibility of protecting everyone.

So he held back the tears and didn't think that the ghost of Shadow the Hedgehog may be haunting him.

There was light here in Oblivion. Every shadow gave way to it. Even when he closed his eyes, he saw it. There was no hiding from it, or his newly recovered memories. He knew everything now. About Maria and the Professor and how, at first, he wasn't created to be the Ultimate Lifeform, but Maria's protector, and companion. But one mystery remained…

Who had betrayed them?

Shadow left the question unanswered for the moment, and gave into his memories once more…

The soldiers killed Maria as she tried to save him. Tidbits of conversation came back to him.

"Human bastards," Shadow spat as he and Maria ran through the halls, trying to escape the military menace.

"Oh Shadow," Maria panted, "They can't all be like that! There has to be humans like the ones in the books—that we watch on the satellite television feed…"

Maria suddenly shrieked as a solider popped up in front of their path.

"Okay, Missy, now just surrender calmly and nobody gets hurt—"

"Like hell they don't!" Shadow cried, rolling into a ball and hitting the armed solider straight in the face. A single shot echoed through the air and Maria held her hands against her abdomen firmly. "Shadow!" she gasped fearfully.

"No!" Shadow was next to her immediately, "keep putting pressure on it; we'll be at the escape pods shortly.

They hadn't actually seen the escape pods before—just knew where the room was.

At the time, Shadow and Maria didn't know that there was only one escape pod left…and it could only hold one.

The light even broke through the memory, and Shadow was back in the present. Wherever that present WAS…

"I've got to get out of here…" Shadow announced, and began to walk forward, exploring the light.

"Sonic!" Amy's high pitch voice broke through the heavy layer of angst clouding the blue hedgehog.

"Amy? What are you doing out here alone—at this time of night?"

Amy stood next to Sonic, his head reaching the height of her waist. She was staring at the sea, a mysterious look in her eyes.

"What's…wrong?" Sonic asked.

"You've been looking pretty down lately; I haven't seen you smile in days…the question is, what's wrong with you, Soniku?" she leaned down, face extremely close to Sonic's.

The blue hedgehog turned away. "It's nothing. We all get the blues sometimes, Amy."

"Oh, yeah? Then how come you get yours at the exact same moment the news reports the debris from the ARK incident?" she pulled out her hammer, playfully hitting Sonic on the head.

/Wow, I didn't know Amy had been stalking me this closely/ He felt a little intruded on. "Anybody would be depressed hearing about that again."

Her green eyes bore into his for a second. Then she pulled away, a big smile on her lips. "I GUESS you're right. I mean, Tail's is still obsessed with finding his fake chaos emerald he lost up there."

Tails wasn't as much of a wreck as Sonic was at the moment, but he was still a mess.

But Sonic had to stay strong. Even when at that moment, the first twinkling pieces of debris burned up in the atmosphere.

He stood up, taking Amy's hand, "Let's go back."

Amy squealed childishly as Sonic took her hand. "Yeah!"

And they turned away from the sky, their past, even as a particularly large, shiny bit of it was about to enter their lives again.


	2. Chapter 2

Connection: Remix CHP 2

Connection: Remix CHP 2

**Author:** Blu Evermind

**Summary:** after the Ark incident, Shadow mysteriously returns to Station Square. Now it's up to Sonic and friends to discover how…and why. SONADOW; Action to come in later chapters.

**Notes:** Alright, chapter two. Now just because this is a re-write, that doesn't mean that the series of events will go down in the same way or the same order. The basics still apply, just…little surprises around every corner, is all. Enjoy!

CHAPTER TWO

Just when the thought of nothing at all began to consume Shadow, there was…something. In the void, there had been times when Shadow had felt himself not…quite…existing, and he'd come to, afraid and confused. Oblivion was finally taking over him.

So when 'something' actually started happening, he'd been glad. When he'd noticed that the darkness had cleared, exposing his glassy prison and the earth he was quickly falling towards, he'd almost been ecstatic.

His hands pressed against the hot glass of the walls. The air and friction in the atmosphere was slowly melting it. He wondered briefly if he would melt as well.

/Anything is better than nothing/ Shadow decided and closed his eyes, letting the events unfold as they would.

A few minutes later, and he had made it pass the atmosphere and was quickly plunging to the ocean. He briefly noticed that it was daytime on earth, the clouds drifting lazily in the sky.

A few miles from the ocean's surface, the water moving in his wake. There was a beach and on it stood a small, blue figure.

/

Amy had suggested that Sonic see the debris fall from the beach.

"Then and only then can you see that it's really over," she'd responded.

But when a flaming chunk of glass had started coming down, Sonic had a feeling that everything was just beginning again.

And when it landed in the sand of the beach, instantly crystallizing most of it and throwing the rest on Sonic, he knew it…knew…

Brushing the sand off, he jumped to his feet, running to the impact site.

THERE! Glowing yellow and very large—large enough to fit him—was the Chaos Emerald Tails had been looking for, for months!

"Woah!" Sonic exclaimed quietly, slowly walking around the hot piece of crystal, "I wonder how it stayed in tact through—"

He was cut off by the sound of loud tapping from the emerald. Then a familiar voice that struck Sonic like lightning.

"Sonic? Is that you? Get me out of here!" Deep and smooth, like velvet…

"S-Shadow?" Sonic whispered, not really believing his ears. "Is that you?"

"What are you going on about? LET ME OUT!!" With a final cry, Shadow's fist broke through the warm glass and the crystal seemed to fall apart from the weak point.

The glass gave way and there was Shadow, on his knees, one fist forward in the air, a look of desperation on his face.

One second, Sonic was blinking dumbly down at the black hedgehog, next, he was in his arms, jumping up and down.

"You're alive! You're alive! They'dtriedtotellmeouweren'tbutItotallyknewyouwerealive! I never doubted it for a second, you know—"

"ALRIGHT. I GET IT, now…" Shadow groaned, his fist relaxed back into a hand, which rested on Sonic's shoulder.

Sonic blinked, looking down at their bodies. He was firmly settled in Shadow's lap, and Shadow's other hand lightly hovered by his hip, unsure.

"S-sorry," Sonic blushed, quickly standing up and holding his hand out to Shadow to help him up. "So…"

"How exactly did this happen?" Shadow appeared like his usual self, apathetic and cool, but the hand Sonic had held had been shaking like a leaf. In a way, Sonic envied him; here he was, sitting on beaches every day, so depressed that even AMY had started to notice, and Shadow had been in space, no food OR movies and he comes back, all cool and collected. Sonic grimaced and Shadow read it wrong.

"What? Not happy to see me?" he grinned a little.

"No; you had me worried there for a second." Sonic explained, "For months, I've had this feeling that…you were coming back."

"Feeling?" Shadow mumbled, red eyes foggy in thought. "I had the same feeling too, that I was coming back."

Sonic lit up, green eyes bright. Shadow tried to ignore how cute he looked. "You felt it too?! I wonder what that could mean…"

Shadow glanced down at the broken emerald, feeling unnerved by its presence. "Can we get out of here?" Shadow suggested.

"Yeah, of course," Sonic answered. A second later, the hedgehogs were racing down the beach, on their way to Station Square.

/

Tails was sitting outside on his front porch, fiddling with a small machine and a few screwdrivers. Unfortunately, he wasn't getting anywhere fast with Amy walking around like that, distracting him.

"I haven't seen Sonic all day!" She whined, "I've checked all his usual hideouts—the beach, hot dog stand, Twinkle Park, the arcade…"

"Maybe he doesn't want to be found," Tails mumbled, jealousy apparent in his voice.

But Amy didn't notice, "Ooh! That Sonic! Always playing 'hard to get' with my feelings! But I know he's the only one for me!"

A few yards up the main road, a large, dust cloud appeared; a clear sign that Sonic was nearby. Not even the Cyclone got that much dust in the air. And then more strange, the cloud was twice as high today; as if there were TWO Sonics…

"HA! I knew he'd come for me!" Amy stood up straight, hands on her hips, "He's automatically drawn to my presence, you know."

Tails ignored her as he saw the figures come over the hill. The blue one was undoubtedly Sonic, but the black one—

"Who could that be?" Tails mumbled.

"You know, it kind of looks like that—"

"—Shadow?" Tails cut her off. And sure enough, as the figures came closer, it was hard to ignore the red on his black spikes, the white spot on his chest...

And there was a smile on Sonic's face, clear as day. Tails hadn't seen one in so long—could this be what he was trying to accomplish, bringing Shadow back to life? Even as Tails thought it, Sonic lifted his arm and waved.

He was yards away, but Tails knew he'd be there in seconds. The look on Shadow's face was unreadable. He didn't fancy his usual glare, instead, his face was blank, red eyes staring ahead.

"Maybe he's a zombie?" Amy pondered aloud.

"Guys!" Sonic reached them, voice breathless, but it couldn't have been from running that short distance. There was relief in that voice. "You won't believe what happened just now! Shadow fell from the sky!"

Tails was still in shock; he was sure he'd seen Shadow disappear in space, like the rest of the crew had witnessed. "Fell…from the sky?"

Shadow stood beside Sonic, gazing into the distance.

"Well actually, he was in a Chaos Emerald…"

Tails shook his head of shock; those two words had set his brain in motion. He mumbled a distracted 'good to have you back, Shadow' and disappeared into his lab.

"Uh…ok?" Sonic blinked, confused.

Shadow arched an eyebrow at Sonic. "Is it me or did your friends get weirder since I left?"

Amy, who'd been holding back all this time, suddenly exploded with "ARE YOU A ZOMBIE?"

Shadow glared at a nearby tree, "Oh yeah, it's not just me."

/

Sonic pulled Shadow into Tail's house, fed him ("Chili dogs—just the thing you need!") and forced him onto a soft pallet of pillows and blankets that he'd made for him in a shady corner of Tail's sitting room.

"But I'm not tired," Shadow growled.

"You've just pulled a 'Deep Impact' from inside a CRYSTAL; of course you're tired." Sonic's voice was forced; it left no room for question.

Shadow smirked, a sudden wave of feeling he couldn't identify, came over him. "Okay, but only if you sleep with me," he purred.

Sonic jumped back, a blush clearly standing out against his cheeks. "Don't say things like that so calmly!"

Shadow burst out in laughter; a noise that sounded as strange as you'd think it would. The mysterious feeling had to be mirth; and the black hedgehog took the fact that he was this comfortable with Sonic very seriously. "Just kidding," he gasped after his laughter subsided.

"Yeah," Sonic smiled as well, glancing down at their clasped hands; would Shadow have really pulled him down with him?

Sonic stepped back, trying not to meet Shadow's eyes, "I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Right," Shadow mumbled, throwing the blankets over his head. Lying down and calm, the exhaustion set in, deep in his bones. He really was tired, he noticed.

Strange thoughts fluttered in and out of his head, almost as frequent as the butterflies in his stomach. The thoughts were comforting and Shadow felt the exhaustion come over him and was asleep in minutes.


	3. Chapter 3

Connection: Remix, Chp

**Connection:** Remix, Chp. 3

**Author:** Blu Evermind

**Summary:** In which there's some relationship development and Tails begins to piece together his theory on Shadow's survival.

/

They had finally reached the escape pad room. Maria appeared paler than usual, a strained look in her eyes. She was still clutching her side which was now dripping with blood. "Thank goodness," she sighed.

"Come on," Shadow said, opening the door.

The escape pads were clear cylinders composed of some strong and mysterious plastic material the Professor had invented. It was strong enough to protect the person inside from heat, motion sickness, radiation, and the many other dangers of outer space.

Too bad there was only one of them.

Shadow didn't hesitate, "Get in the pod, Maria."

"Shadow…" Maria mumbled, her voice soft with weakness, "I don't think I'll survive the trip down."

"Don't say such things," Shadow hissed, reaching out for her free hand. It was cold and her grip was weak from blood loss. The girl was also shivering. Maria would have a small chance of surviving the trip down to earth; and when she had landed, who knew how long it would take for her to get medical help? What if the pod dropped in a barren area? What if…

The possibilities ran rampant through Shadow's mind, but one thought remained clear; /_I've got to TRY! I'm her protector—I can't fail her now._/

"But you, Shadow," Maria's face softened, "You have so much to live for…live for us. See all those places we've always wanted to see, experience the things we've always dreamed about."

"No," Shadow felt despair and sadness well up in his chest. At the time, he hadn't realized the wetness on his cheeks had been tears, "I can't leave you here."

"It's okay, really," Maria laughed weakly, "I'm sure I'll be gone before they get here." She looked up, with a dreamy countenance. "I wonder…"

"—YOU'RE NOT DYING HERE!" Shadow cried, pulling her to the pod, "Get in, PLEASE…!"

Maria looked down, her face unreadable, "Alright," and she stepped forward, slowly.

Shadow sighed with relief. If he got her off ARK, maybe he could put up a last stand with the intruding soldiers; he'd make them pay for destroying his home, for shooting Maria.

But Shadow was so lost in his thoughts that he had been caught unaware when Maria pushed him, with the last of her strength, into the entrance of the escape pod.

"Maria—NO!" Shadow turned around, but wasn't quick enough as Maria's bloody fist slammed down on the start button, closing the door. His gloved hands splayed against the glass, eyes wide, "Why?"

"Promise me, Shadow…protect the good people of Earth."

The pod was pulling from the docking bay now; a small hold in the ground, in an air tight portal.

"Protect them and live life…stop people like these soldiers…like the one who betrayed us…" her eyes closed even as she spoke.

"MARIA!" Shadow cried as the pod was ejected into space.

Shadow could picture her now; on the floor in the escape room, eyes closed with a small smile on her face…unaware as a dark, black mass crept into the room, the sound of wet footsteps making her look up…

"Well, well, well…look what we have here."

/

A nasty little cruel laugh woke Shadow from his slumber. It took him a second to realize he wasn't in the cold refines of the escape pod, but Sonic's warm bundle of blankets and pillows he'd made for him earlier. That the laugh he'd heard had been in his nightmare, not right in his ear.

Heart pounding, he quickly sat up in the pallet. What had been a shady little corner hours ago was now a patch of sunlight. The natural warmth made Shadow feel real and comforted that someone would do all the things Sonic had done for him. How could he make it up to him?

Across from him, the television was on, the volume low. It appeared to be a news channel. On ARK, Maria had quickly changed the channel from this, more fond of the colorful cartoon shows.

"We're live at the Station Square military base, where Dr. Eggman has stolen four nuclear bombs. He requests that Sonic the Hedgehog surrender or each hour, he'll blow up a popular Station Square location. First on his list? Twinkle Park." The news reporter, a young female, explained, her back to the entrance of the military base, where there appeared to be a lot of confusion.

Shadow hadn't really thought about why Sonic tried so hard to thwart Eggman's plans all those months ago, but now it made sense; Sonic was the protector of all those people…as Shadow was once Maria's protector.

Shadow was a little awed; he'd found it pretty hard just protecting one person; he had no idea how hard it had to be protecting thousands in Station Square.

He remembered Maria's wish…the promise he'd made to her: _Protect them and live life._

Shadow's fists clutched the blankets tightly, "I will not fail you, Maria…"

"What's that?" The news reporter exclaimed, and the camera zoomed into the sky. "That blue blur, moving at the speed of sound? It could only be Sonic the Hedgehog!"

There was loud applause from the military personnel as Sonic appeared to fly into the military base. /_His powers much have gotten stronger since the Biohazard battle._/ There was even a light gold shimmer surrounding his body.

For a second, he disappeared behind the base. Suddenly, there was an explosion, which the cameraman zoomed into. Seconds later, one of Eggman's machines flew away from the blaze.

"Curse you, Sonic! I'll get you next time!" The dastardly doctor announced, shaking a fist into the fair from his seat in the flying machine.

Sonic walked from the building, a knowing grin on his face, "Okay guys, let's get in there and put out that fire!"

The military jumped into action, relieved smiles on their faces. They didn't look anything like the awful soldiers who invaded ARK…perhaps Maria had been right.

/_That's what I want to do!_/ Shadow thought, his spirits lifting, /_I want to be out there…helping those people._/

There were footsteps outside the hallway and Tails entered the room. There was sand in his fur and on his shoes. He looked relieved but very exhausted. He glanced at the television where Sonic was now being interviewed by the female reporter.

His face was blank. "Kind of cocky, isn't he?"

Shadow shrugged, "I guess he kind of has the right to be. I mean, he just saved those people."

Tails snorted but said nothing more on the subject. The kitsune appeared more mature than he had when he'd met him all those months ago: naïve and easily tricked, cerulean eyes wide in awe every time he saw Sonic. Surrounding Tails now, was an air of disgust towards the blue hedgehog. What had changed in those few months since Shadow had last seen him?

"Come on down to the lab, I have something to show you," Tails said, heading in the direction of his lower stairway.

/

The lab was a large, but extremely cluttered basement. There was a surprising amount of windows in the lab, which made the whole place less dark and cold. There were three large, long metal tables; the first one appeared to hold technical equipment—computers and the like. The second was mechanical parts and was covered in many dark oil stains. The third was by far the cleanest; a few microscopes and a hammer—and what appeared to be the remains of the Chaos Emerald Shadow had rode down to earth in.

"Is that…?"

"Yeah," Tails said, grabbed a dirty towel and wiping his hands on it. "While you were resting, I decided to figure out the whole mystery bit. By all means, you should have died out there, in space that night we defeated the biohazard."

"But?" Shadow took a seat on a small stool by the table. The emerald still made him uncomfortable, he felt as though at any moment, the gem would swallow him whole. But from all appearances, it looked dead. The natural glow that all Chaos Emeralds seemed to have was not present.

"But, like most things, it wasn't as simple as it appeared." Tails picked a piece of the emerald up, examining it while he talked, "When you and Sonic transformed in order to defeat the biohazard, you both depleted the energy of the Chaos Emerald. There was not enough energy to get you both back to ARK in time." Tails paused, looking up at Shadow.

He looked like he was expecting something from the dark hedgehog. It quickly dawned on him that Tails wanted an explanation. "I let Sonic have the energy to go back…after all, he had so much waiting for him on ARK…"

Tails' eye twitched for a moment; perhaps he was thinking back to a time when he looked forward to Sonic returning? There was an itch in the back of Shadow's mind; he had to find out why Tails no longer liked his former best friend. But it would have to wait for another time; finding out exactly what had happened in space was more important.

"Yeah, well, the new depleted Chaos Emerald had to find more energy elsewhere…and it took it directly from you." Tails took a seat too, placing a crystal piece on top of the pile of shards. "But not all at once—it absorbed your body, taking a little energy at a time."

/_That would explain the darkness slowly taking over,_/ Shadow thought. /_It was the emerald, slowly taking my life…_/ It made him too uneasy to know this and he averted his eyes from the pile of crystal.

"But, what I still don't understand is how you survived for months inside that thing—its as if some outside force kept you alive—it couldn't have been the Emerald, it only took from you." Tails sat in silence for a moment, "I'm sorry I can't help you any further."

"No, you've explained a lot, thank you." Shadow stood up, "It doesn't really matter to me how I got back; I'm here now. That's all that matters."

Tails frowned; he looked deep in thought before he spoke a second later, "You sound like Sonic; never questioning, simply going on ahead."

"Is that a bad a thing?" Crimson eyes bore into sky blue for a second, searching.

Tails glanced away, his mouth open, about to respond—

"TAILS! Where are ya, buddy?!" Came a familiar cry from upstairs.

"Ah, crap, I forgot." Tails jumped up, running past Shadow, and out the lab.

"He's probably down in his lab—See?" Came another familiar voice, this one female.

Shadow's heart jumped in his chest, and he too raced up the stairs.

Complete silence met him when he reached the sitting room again.

There, bathed in the sunset pouring from the open front door, stood two figures; a red echidna and a very shocked-looking white bat girl.

The bat stepped forward, chest bouncing lightly. She blinked her purple eye shadow-covered eyes before a quiet whisper escaped her lips.

"S-Shadow?"

END OF CHAPTER THREE


	4. Chapter 4

Connection: Remix, CHP 4

**Connection: Remix, CHP 4**

**Author:** Blu Evermind

**Summary:** A reunion, a picnic and Shadow discovers what he was here to do.

**Notes:** Chapter Four, and I'm feeling really good about this rewrite. I don't have a beta reader, so I proofread but we all know writers suck at editing their own stuff, so if anything is out of the ordinary, please let me know!

**Another Note:** Just so you guys know, I'm finished with Part One and I'm working on part two. Also, there will be a part three, I will come to a conclusion unlike before…lol. I write a lot at once and then I update a lot. Thanks everyone for sticking with me this long!

/

Shadow gave a small 'oomphf' as Rouge the Bat encased him in a spine snapping hug. There was no room at all between them, in this strong embrace of friends. Shadow could even feel her breasts against his chest and the thought made his eyes drift to the ceiling, to ignore the pressure.

"Is it really you?" She mumbled against his neck. When she pulled back, there were tears on her face.

"Careful Rouge, your makeup will run," Shadow smirked, holding her at arms length.

"Yes of course," She sniffed, gently wiping her eyes with her finger, "But…how?"

"It's a long story," Tails interjected; now with a picnic basket in his hands, "I can explain when we get to the park."

Knuckles patted Shadow heavily on the shoulder, grinning and exposing his fangs. "Nice to have you back, buddy."

"Yeah," Shadow smiled, trying to keep his legs straight under the strong touch. "Park?"

"Well, every month, we get together in Twinkle Park for a picnic—the whole crew—and afterward, we take a walk." Rouge explained; she appeared to have come back to her senses.

Knuckles arched an eyebrow at Tails' appearance, "You gonna clean up first? We've got all the time in the world, you know. Plus, we've got to wait for Sonic to get back anyway."

"Right," Tails mumbled, walking into some back room.

There was a thick, uncomfortable silence as Knuckles, Rouge, and Shadow took seats opposite of each other in the sitting room. Shadow decided to break the deafening silence.

"So, are you still a famous jewel thief?" Shadow mused.

Rouge smiled lightly, "Not that much anymore." And she took Knuckles' large hand in hers, "I help Knuckles protect the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald on his island."

"It's a quiet life, but she insists it makes her happy." Knuckles smiled at her. "I didn't want to bring her into my life-long duty—"

"But he couldn't keep me away," She finished. She looked back up at Shadow, worry in her features, "What are going to do now?"

"Well, I haven't really figured it out yet," Shadow answered, "But I want to help people, that's for sure."

"Good for—"

A sudden dusty wind cut off Rouge's reply as a blue blur slid into the house. There was a loud crash, as it hit the dining room table in the next room. "Ah, damn, OW!" The blur came to a stop, revealing a filthy Sonic the Hedgehog, grasping his knee. Shadow noticed he still had soot in his fur from his showdown at the military base.

Tails appeared in the door way, all his fur but a tuft on the top of his head had been cleansed and dried. He frowned at the hedgehog, now hopping up and down in pain, "Sonic! Now we have to wait for you to be clean as well! This picnic will never happen!" The kitsune fumed, blue eyes aflame.

Sonic looked hurt for a second (or that could have just been his knee) before Knuckles interjected, "Chill out, Tails. You know Sonic cleans up super fast."

Sonic gave the foxboy a thumbs up, "Be back in a sec!" And sure enough, a few seconds later, Sonic appeared from the bathroom, now sparkling clean. No one had even heard the shower run, he was that fast.

"Everyone ready?"

/

It was a crisp, yet warm day in Twinkle Park. After Sonic's triumph over Eggman, it seemed everyone wanted to enjoy the Park that had almost been destroyed.

That meant there were many Sonic spectators and admirers about, but Sonic played it off cool as a cucumber.

Popping another chili dog in his mouth, Sonic leaned back against the large trunk of the tree that was protecting the crew from the sun. "Now this is perfect…" he sighed as another small child called out his name and his mother pushed him along.

The stares Shadow was getting weren't making the black hedgehog any more comfortable. "Do we have to give a press release or something?" Shadow pondered aloud, "I think they still see me as a bad guy."

"Nah," Sonic closed his eyes, preparing for a nap, "We told them when the rocket landed that it was with your help that we saved earth. They probably think you're a zombie or something."

"And we can't tell exactly what happened until we know EXACTLY what happened." Tails further explained.

"Right," Shadow picked up the chili dog, taking a small bite. So he'd be a freak for a while; he could always glare the children down…

Amy had run up to the group a moment later, jumping on Sonic almost immediately. Sonic didn't even bat an eyelid; he acted like the pink hedgehog hadn't attacked him at all. Tails only stared at the two apathetically. Shadow took this time to try out his glare on a nearby child. After catching his gaze, she quickly burst into tears, tugging on her father's shoulder. No one in the group seemed to notice Shadow's failure so he simply picked up his now-cold chili dog and took another scrutinized bite.

The sun was setting and Sonic decided to go for a run, leaving a confused Amy chasing him around the park. At some time, she pulled out her hammer, and the run had turned into a playful game of chase. Knuckles and Rouge looked on, laughing at Sonic, who'd barely missed the hammer's punch one time. Tails' bad attitude lifted a little; perhaps things weren't as bad as they seemed.

Shadow thought about how he was going to tell Sonic that he wanted them to be rivals again—in protecting the world, that was.

Sonic eventually lost Amy somewhere around the duck pond, he returned to the picnic, sitting down next to Shadow. Sonic appeared cool and collected but where their arms touched innocently, Shadow could feel Sonic's pulse racing.

"No problem," he shut his eyes and leaned against the tree.

Shadow rolled his eyes; he admired Sonic's strength, but…

/_What an ego!_/

END OF CHAPTER FOUR


End file.
